Suffering and the Glory of God – Part IV

Part 4 of the “Suffering and the Glory of God” sermon series. Part 4 is an exegetical treatment of Romans 8:28 addressing the theme of how God works everything together for good for those who love him. This sermon was originally preached February 3rd, 2008 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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February 3rd, 2008
Pastor Duane M. Smets

Suffering and the Glory of God – Part III
Romans 8:28-30

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Introduction

This morning we continue our “Suffering and the Glory” series and move on to one of the most loved verses in the Bible throughout the centuries, Romans 8:28. For the next few weeks we’ll be dealing with Romans 8:28-30, so let’s read it and then pray over it.

Lord our God, how we need your help today. How we need to know in our soul that you are not against those who love you but are for them, working for their good. Somehow, through these words and through this sermon today would give us love for you. For those who have never loved you, would you spark that affection. For those who love you but their love is cold, would you re-ignite it. For those who may be looking at their suffering and wondering where you are, would you deepen their love and encourage their hearts with these words. Jesus Christ, son of God, may you and your gospel look really good to us today.

Here is the plan for today and for the next few Sundays. The context of this passage is still suffering. Back in Romans 8:18, Paul put forth his wager, that “the suffering of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory to be revealed.” And since then he has pointed to creation’s longing to not break down anymore, to our longing for new bodies, and then last week to our Spirit inspired prayers. We ended last week by talking about how God’s Spirit knows the future and because he does knows how to help us in prayer. Prayer is good and helps us a lot when we suffer.

Now, in these next few verses, our human author Paul, along with the theme of assurance in Romans 8, seeks to further plant our feet in the gospel. He realizes that he just made a pretty huge claim in verse 27, that the the Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God. Now he’ll explain that will of God in depth.

These verses are huge. Some passages, like last week’s, are difficult passages, they take a lot of work to wrap your head around. Other passages, are deep passages, and they take down deep into the roots of God’s grace. That’s this one. I feel pretty small and unworthy today standing next to such great words. It’s quite overwhelming. These words go so deep.

There is an old anonymously written poem I used to have taped in the front of my old Bible. This passage made me think of it several times this week. It goes like this:
My pail I’m often dropping
Deep down into this well
It never touched the bottom
How ever deep it fell
And though I keep on dipping
By study faith and prayer
I have no power to measure
The living water there

That is so like this verse today. It is this deep well of living water that could never be fully quenched. But I’m going to do my best for us. Verse 28 sort of functions like a thesis of sorts for verse 29 and 30. So what we’re going to do is take three weeks on it. Today we’ll just deal with God’s working things for good for those who love him. Then next week we’ll deal with verse 29 and God’s purpose in doing that. Then two weeks from now, well deal with verse 30 and this word “called.” After that we’ll take a break, and have a week of extended worship in music combined with some stories from you guys about the gospel’s work in your heart. Then, we’ll come back to Romans 8 and finish it out in another few weeks, so our “Suffering and the Glory of God” series will have lasted for just about 2 months in total.

We Know

So for today. Have you ever had one of those moments in your life, where something happens or has been happening and you stop and you think to yourself, or maybe it’s one of those silent prayer to God in your head…and you ask or wonder, “Why is this happening to me? What is going on? Does God even care about me? And if he does, why did this thing happen?” Ever thought any of those things? I have. I do. About once a week. J I think Paul did and that’s one reason why he wrote this. Because he learned something. He learned that no matter what God works things for good for those who love him. He had been shipwrecked, beaten, robbed, anxiety attacks, without sleep, without food and learned that God worked it for his good.

He starts off with “we know.” My reaction is like, “no we don’t.” He said “we know” back in verse 22, when he said we know that there is something wrong with the creation the way it is right now. But, yeah, I can agree with that because I see it and experience it. But this, this suffering, isn’t that the question, of whether or not we know if God is really in it or not?

I think Paul is pressing in here, he is sort of digging deep down and saying, “you might be thinking some things in your head right now, and I understand that, but you know this, you know.” In the previous passage, he said there were things “we don’t know.” We don’t’ know how to pray, but the Spirit helps us because the Spirit knows. Now here, he says true saints, true believers in Jesus, know this, that for those who love God, he works all things together for their good.

For Those Who Love God All Things Work Together for Good

Let’s talk about that phrase for awhile. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good.” You might have a different translation that might say it a little differently, we use the ESV here at The Resolved Church and if your interested in why there are different translations you can read my latest blog online.

In this verse, though some Bible have the wording a little different, it doesn’t really change the meaning at all, the meaning is clear, God works, all things, together for good, for those who love him. Let’s go backward today with this phrase. So we’ll start at “good” and work backward toward loving God.

For Good

The assumption here, is that there is something “bad” in front of you and you are wondering why. This includes all sufferings. It could be from some natural diaster or catastrophe, like fires or earthquakes or floods or tornados. It could be from your body breaking down, you get sick with the flu or with you break a bone or you get some terminal disease. It could be from getting fired from a job, it could be having your car stolen, it could be from some stupid thing you did or said or that someone else said or did to you. It could be the emotional trauma of losing someone close to you or having someone close to you seemingly not care about you. It could be any of these things. Anything. All things. All things that look bad, if you are a Christian, they will not turn out to be bad for you, God will work them for your good.

What this text says is that there may be things that by every conceivable reason, things look bad, very bad, like there is no way any good can come from it. I talked to a guy this week who told me, with tears running down his face, “no good can come from this, I just want to die and for it to be all over.” This text says, that no matter how bad it gets, if you love God, there is hope and reason to believe that it will not stay bad forever, that you will see that somehow God will work it for your good. At the time you may not be able to see how, but you can be sure God will because he has promised it to you.

That is why and how this verse has become so precious to so many Christians throughout the years. I hope it becomes precious to you. This is a verse you should all memorize. So that when things get tough you can call it to mind and recite it and remind yourself of God’s promise to you. This will work together for good.

Work Together

Look at those words “work together.” Maybe you’re sitting there and you are like how can God work something so bad and so evil together for good? I mean seriously Duane, how can God work things like death and disease and disaster together for good? Don’t you think you the Bible here is just a little overly optimistic?

Let me first give you the Bible’s answer and then I’ll give you some practical answers. First the Bible’s answer is that what may seem to not be able to have anything good come out it, God can make it for good. It is one of the things that makes God God. That he stands over and above all the lives and circumstances of everyone on the planet, he looks down at google earth and sees not just the buildings and the streets but he sees into the homes, he sees into hearts (like we learned last week) and then he can see all the relationships of people to each other and to all other circumstances, like the weather and the traffic lights. And he knows how to work them together. God has a unique ability to work circumstances together.

The Bible’s Answer of “Work Together”

I’ll give you an example. The first book of the Bible, Genesis, from about chapter 37 all the way to the end of the book, for 13 chapters, is the story of Joseph. Here’s the story. Joseph is 17, the youngest of 10 of his brothers, he had one other brother, Benjamin, who was probably still just a little kid. Joseph, was from a different mom than his other ten brothers and more than that it was the mom that his dad, Jacob, really loved, he worked for her for 14 years! So Joseph’s brothers didn’t like him because their dad loved him more.

So what do they do, they go and capture him and throw him in a pit, this is like an old school bad guys movie, where they kidnap a dude, put a bag on his head, tie him to a chair and lock him a room. Then they sell him as a slave to these dudes passing through town. These guys carry him off to Egypt. Some time goes by and his master ends up having him clean the king’s house. While he’s there, the King’s wife, hits on him and want him to sleep with her. Joseph, freaks out (that’s a good reaction for you guys dealing with girls who are not your wife wanting to have sex with you), he freaks out and leaves. So she tells the king, that Joseph tried to seduce her and Joseph gets thrown in jail for a few years.

While he is in jail Joseph discovers he has this gift of interpreting dreams and uses this gift to help a few of his prisonmates get out of jail and exchange they are supposed to help him once they get out. But once they get out they forget about him. Finally, the king, the Pharaoh of Egypt has a troubling dream and hears that Joseph can interpret dreams and so he sends for him and Joseph gets out of jail. For the next number of years Joseph grows increasingly in favor with the Pharaoh, who ends up making Joseph his right hand man and amazingly, Joseph is now ruling over probably the most powerful nation in the world at that time.

Meanwhile famine strikes ancient Mesopotamia and no one has any food anywhere. But because Joseph was was wise and had a ton of food stored up ahead of time, everyone across the land starts coming to him for food, and guess who shows up? His brothers. Joseph gives them a hard time at first and actually sends them away and tells them not to come back until they bring his dad with them. They come back and when Joseph see his family he breaks down and cries and out of his love and forgiveness has them come live in Egypt.

After Joseph’s dad dies, his brothers come to him afraid for their lives and the Bible says this, you can read with me if you like, this is Genesis 50:17-21.
“17 Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Now, I told that whole story mainly for the purpose of you hearing a single phrase in that passage. The first part of verse 20, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Did you catch that? “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”

That is what Romans 8:28 is saying, when it says God works all things together for good for those who love God. There is evil for sure. But God stands over evil. He is not the direct actor of evil. He is wholly good and pure and righteous. It is blaspheme to call God evil, he is holy. And in his holiness he separates himself from evil and yet can control and restrain it and work it for good!

God stood over and above all the circumstances of Joseph’s life, his getting kidnapped and sold as a slave, his what kind of job he worked as a slave, what happened with the famine in the land, giving Joseph the ability to interpret dreams…all those things, God worked together for good. He arranged and designated and set it all up. And just as God stood over all the circumstances of Joseph’s life, he stand over your life and mine and is working all things for our good. I promise you that. If you love God, he is not against, though it may seem so. It may seem bad. Don’t be discouraged. God is for you, he will work this for good.

Practical Answers of “Work Together”

That is the Bible’s answer, of how God works all things together for good. Now let me draw out a few practical answers for you that may help Romans 8:28 to be even more of a comfort for you.

We don’t know what is ahead, what will happen in the future. God does and I’m sure he could tell us if he wanted. But he doesn’t and he doesn’t because it would not turn out for good for us if he did. It is the same reason why God orchestrates and allows evil and seemingly bad things to happen to us, because God knows that is the best way to teach us what we need to learn so that we will know the full extent of his goodness. For you smart kids, that’s theodicy, I’m doing it in a sort of backhand way today. What I’m saying is this, when bad things happen, suffering…all we want is for it to stop, immediately. And what we don’t see, is that our very suffering is God’s gift to us to mold us and shape us so that we might truly come to know goodness.

Think about it with me. Have you ever met one of those people who everything just seems to go well for them. They’re born into a rich family, everything always comes easy for them, they’re seemingly so smart and talented and nothing bad ever seems to happen to them. Do you know those people? And you’re like, what’s up with that! They don’t know how hard my life is. They don’t know how good they have it. That’s it. That’s what I’m talking about. We don’t know how good something is unless you have experienced some hardship. Nobody ever says, “Man, when everything was going so great I learned and grew so much.” It doesn’t happen that way. The way you grow and learn is through the hard things.

And Romans 8:28 comes alongside us when thing get hard to encourage us and say, I know it’s hard right now, but there is good ahead just hold on to God and don’t abandon your love for him. He has your good in mind, even in this. Just keep loving God. Love him and trust him.

Love God

That’s the last thing I want to talk about today. Loving God. Notice the promise of Romans 8:28 is not for everyone. “For those who love God, all things work together for good.” Everything will not turn out good for everyone. Do you see that? All thing work together for good only for those who love God. Bob Marley is wrong. Everything little thing is not going to be alright!

There is a condition. You got to love God. And so many don’t. And on top of that there are so many who think they do but they really don’t, God is just sort of the dog you feed every once in a while when he barks. That’s not love. What is it to love God?

This is the thing I thought about all this week more than any other part of the passage, loving God. I thought about it a lot because who doesn’t want this verse to be true for them, for things to work for their good. So my natural response is, okay then God, what do I gotta do to love you.

And as I’ve thought about it this week and looked at my life, there are so many things that you could look in on from the outside and say, oh that guy, he loves God. He read his Bible every morning this week, he ministered to and encouraged several people this week, he was a good husband to his wife this week and he was a good father to his daughter, he prayed a lot, worried about the people he pastors a lot, that guy loves God.

Here’s my confession, I haven’t wanted to do hardly any of those things this week. I’ve actually been quite apathetic. I’ve done them, but affection or desire has been pretty small. I’m not impressed with myself that much. In fact I feel pretty guilty about it. So the question I’ve asked over and over again this week is what is it to love God?

This text just assumes that you do love God. Our response that wants to take it as a something that we can earn or merit or return in order to get all things working for our good, isn’t what this text is saying or trying to teach us. In two weeks, we’ll look at some wider reasons about where the love for God comes from. But for this week let me just reach a little bit more on loving God.

For so many love is such a fleeting thing. What is the number one reason people say they get divorced? “I don’t love you anymore.” For them, love is seen as this thing which can change, it is a resident feeling or emotion that can pass.

For others love is purely a deeds thing. Like the dad who is never around but thinks that his kid will somehow know that he loves him just because he buys him an expensive gift on his birthday or Christmas.

For some love is purely a mind thing. You might be this person, where you think of love and you start thinking of psychology and physiology and the way the brain works. And you start tearing everything apart in your mind and you’ve got a reason for everything. And so love seems very simple to you.

What I want to say today is that it is none of those things, all those things are just different markers that flow out of love. We could go down the Greek road and talk about its different words for love. But I don’t want to do that today and I’m not even sure it would help.

So I’ll leave you with some somewhat intentionally groping words on loving God. I think it is devotion, to be devoted and committed to God. I think it is God-centeredness, where you care about God in everything that is a part of your life. I think it is treasure, where God is your most valuable possession. I think it is adoration, where you God is the most amazing being to you. I think it is identity, where you don’t attempt to build your identity on anything outside of him. I think it is stability, where God is the rock that you bank on and build your life on. Those are reaching descriptions, but hopefully they point to the real thing. Love for God cannot be tamed, it does not fit within nice neat corners but takes over everything. Action, feeling, and thought will result but none of them are love in themselves.

Conclusion

Here’s how I want to conclude. Let take today’s text, love for God and him working all things together for good for those that love him, let me take that and put it in a bigger story.

Not all people love God. For them it will not turn out good, it will turn out bad, really, really bad, hell bad, forever bad. In fact, all of us have not loved God. Everyone in human history has not loved God as they ought. Which is why God gave us Jesus. He sent Jesus into the world to die on the cross for all his children throughout history who have not loved him as they ought. And in the horrendus evil of the innocent son of God crucified on a cross…God turns all the bad of his children’s lives for good. How? Jesus died for sin in the place of all who don’t love God and satisfied the debt of forever bad that God’s children owe to God.

That means two things. Once, it means if you don’t know this, this “we know” stuff we’ve been talking about today, you can. Embrace Jesus and God’s provision for your lack of love for him. Don’t risk all things working against you because you refuse to love God’s Jesus. When you face suffering there is no hope for you that any good can come from it if you don’t love Jesus. Become God’s child, come into the family, feel the warmth and the love he provides, and know that everything in your life, all the junk, God will work for your good because you will have God himself as the center of your life.

The second thing it means is this, if you know this, but like me you find your love for God wavering at times…know this, your love for God is not dependent upon something that you do, feel, or think. It goes much deeper then that and you will only know your love for God in so far as you embrace all of who Jesus is and what he has done for you. We fail at our love for God again and again, but there is one who did not, who loved God with perfect devotion, God-centeredness, treasureness, adoration, identity and stability…his name is Jesus. So embrace Jesus today as your anchor in the midst of suffering and for in and through him all things will work together for your good.

Let’s pray.

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